UConn's Past And Present Revels In The Moment On The MSG Floor

PAUL DOYLE, pdoyle@courant.comThe Hartford Courant

NEW YORK — As the second-year head coach climbed the ladder to cut the net from the rim at Madison Square Garden, the man who built UConn into a national program was basking in the moment at the other end of the court.

Former players hugged, school administrators mingled at center court, parents of current players shed tears of joy, and the kids who completed the improbable win celebrated among themselves. For one Sunday afternoon, the world's most famous arena was property of the State of Connecticut.

The site of so many great college basketball moments of the UConn Huskies was the stage for one of the great victories in program history. Underdog UConn advanced to the NCAA Tournament Final Four with a 60-54 win over Michigan State, providing an unforgettable afternoon for the sea of blue-and-white in the building.

UConn will play the No. 1-ranked Florida Gators in the national semifinals Saturday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The championship game is Monday night.

The Huskies are three-time champions and will be making their fifth trip to the Final Four. This year's journey, though, seemingly came out of nowhere.

After a season in which the program was banned from postseason play, the Huskies were hardly viewed as a national title contender. Coach Kevin Ollie, who replaced Jim Calhoun in 2012, was steering his team into the new American Athletic Conference while attempting to maintain a national profile.

UConn (30-8) was the No. 7 seed in the East Regional after losing to Louisville in the conference tournament title game. But the Huskies began to gain momentum with NCAA Tournament victories over St. Joseph's and Villanova before advancing to the Elite Eight with a win over Iowa State on Friday night.

Michigan State, the No. 4 seed and Big Ten champion, was seen as too physical and too big for UConn to handle. But the Huskies rode senior guard Shabazz Napier (25 points) to a victory, storming back from a nine-point second-half deficit.

It was the first time that the NCAA tournament was held at MSG since 1961, and UConn seemed to relish the environment.

"It was just an amazing feeling to do it in Madison Square Garden," Ollie said. "It just puts a great bow on this gift. And we're going to unwrap it again and we're going down to Texas. We're going to see where it takes us."

UConn is the first No. 7 seed to reach the Final Four since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985. In 2011, the Huskies were a No. 3 seed after making an stunning run through the Big East Tournament, climbing on Kemba Walker's back for five wins in five days.

This weekend may have exceeded that run and every other Madison Square Garden memory. When UConn was placed in the East Regional with a possibility of playing at the Garden, there were visions of Huskies fans flooding Manhattan and providing the team with a home-court edge.

That's just what happened.

"I knew we were going to take over this building," former UConn player Richard Hamilton said as he stood on the court after the victory. "So many great years [at MSG], so many Big East battles and things like that. Once I seen that we were coming to Madison Square Garden, I said, "They're in trouble … We know the rims, we know which way the wind blows, we know how crowd is going to be, how hard the floor is, we know everything.' So it was like a home-court game and we really played like it."

The crowd was behind the Huskies from the opening tip and remained loud, even when the Spartans ended the first half with a 9-0 run and began the second half by outscoring UConn 7-2. When Napier ignited UConn's comeback with a three-pointer just under 4 minutes into the second half, the crowd erupted.

The UConn lead grew to 10 points on a Ryan Boatright three-pointer later in the game, and MSG felt like Gampel Pavilion.

"It's kind of unfair," Napier said. "We come here and we plant a lot of seeds here. And our fans come here and as we always say, 'It's like our third home.' So we feel real comfortable here, and I'm glad we were not too far away from Madison Square Garden, the mecca of basketball. It's exciting to play here. We feel the intensity from our crowd."

And it was often Napier, the spiritual leader, bringing those fans to their feet. Like Walker in 2011, Napier is lifting the Huskies and willing his teammates to victories.

The Boston native was knocked around as he was driving to the hoop and suffered a bloody nose when he took a blow to the face. Undeterred, he produced 17 points in the second half and was efficient in every aspect, from tossing in three pointers to converting nine free throws in nine attempts.

He moved past Ray Allen into fourth place on UConn's all-time scoring list with 1,925 points. In a program with a litany of great players, Napier is climbing to the top of the mountain.

"These kids would follow him across the desert for a drink of water," Calhoun said. "Shabazz is one of the great leaders, along with Kemba and some of the great guards we've had. … I couldn't be happier and prouder for him."

And every bit the proud father, Calhoun grinned as he watched from the periphery while Ollie and his players celebrated. Calhoun built a Hall of Fame resume at UConn from 1986 to 2012 before grooming Ollie for his office. The program was banned from postseason play by the NCAA last season, just as the Big East was imploding and UConn was left in a new league.

But the message to the country Sunday was that UConn is still very much a national player.

"This is UConn basketball," Calhoun said. "We're not going anyplace. We haven't been going anyplace. We had a couple bumps in the road. We're all going to have that. But we're really happy about this. It's on to Dallas."